Tainted Grail - Announced

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Tainted Grail is described as a narrative-driven, turn-based open-world RPG set in the world of classic Arthurian legends.



Avalon is dying. King Arthur is long gone, and Knights of the Round Table are in disarray. Guardian Menhirs, the only thing that makes it possible for humans to survive in this remote land, are going dark. Your village chose its best and brightest and sent them on an epic quest to reach Kamelot, find the Grail, and save the land.

You were not among them.

They've never returned, and now it's your turn to lead a band of unlikely heroes, the only ones this land can still provide. These ordinary people set off far too late, under-equipped for the task ahead, and with little hope of success.

Tainted Grail is a dark fantasy open-world RPG with fresh turn-based exploration and combat. It is based around deep, immersive story from one of the best and most innovative board games (biggest Kickstarter project of 2018!), but introduces a whole new experience crafted directly for PC.

EVERY DECISION MATTERS

Tainted Grail is a deeply immersive experience that takes the best elements of RPG adventures and brings them to the next level through intricately branching storylines. Written by Krzysztof Piskorski, one of the best Polish fantasy writers, it will draw you right in and keep you engaged, surprised, and invested in many secrets of Avalon.

In this dying world, no decision is easy or morally obvious, and you will often face impossible choices. Other times, the consequences of seemingly minor actions will haunt you in the least expected moments. In the end, your impact on Avalon is going reverberate through deep, meaningful changes to the game world - entire towns will raise or fall, land will shatter, ancient powers will be restored, or broken forever.

DEVELOP YOUR TEAM AND VILLAGE

During the game, you will continuously develop your heroes - from getting better items, through leveling and choosing new asymmetric skills and attacks, up to evolving archetypes that will redefine and direct these characters.

On top of that, you will develop your village as well. Shoring up your defenses or raising additional buildings won't be easy, often requiring you to solve story encounters and to unlock new possibilities through exploration.

EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN

A major part of the game involves expeditions into the land covered by the Wyrdness, an ancient force twisting people, creatures, and even space itself in all manner of ways.

You will need to carefully manage your resources, use special items protecting you from the chaotic influence, and pick your track carefully, as there will be plenty of enemies and weird, unexpected events waiting for you. While dangerous, exploration will be the only way to gather precious resources and, ultimately, to figure out what is happening to Avalon and if it can be stopped.

The 3D map your heroes will travel through will be brimming with dark but also beautiful and striking designs and locations.

STRATEGIC COMBAT

During combat, you will decide between using skills specific for your hero and figuring out the best possible combinations to do it. A unique power runes mechanic gives the system additional depth, making it possible for the same skills to have a different effect.

Every hero will bring a different playstyle, defined by unique skills, that you will continue to further develop based on your favorite tactic. You will supplement this rich toolset with various items and special moves. All of that makes every encounter a different and exciting tactical challenge!
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More information.
 
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To many turn-based games lately.:(

Hopefully this one doesn't use procedural generation also.
 
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This sounds like it could be relevant to my interests. I'll keep an eye on it. Not that my pile of shame needs any more entries...
 
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Couchpotato said:
To many turn-based games lately.:(
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I'm pretty sure that's not a thing. :p

Anyway I'm currently playing ACO then Elex and then Greedfall. At least that's my current plan. Don't tell me you've actually ran out of non TB games to play.

As for this title, It doesn't look like something that could beat out what's in my backlog, But maybe it could earn a spot in my back, back, backlog.
 
It damn well is when 8 out of 10 new RPG's on this site are Turn-based.:p

Seems to be the latest fad that every indie/small developer is following.
 
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Couchpotato said:
It damn well is when 8 out of 10 new RPG's on this site are Turn-based.:p

Seems to be the latest fad that every indie/small developer is following.
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I suspect it's a technology & design thing as well, good real time AI is probably hard, not that I actually know, it's a guess. I have to say I like the aesthetics of the trailer. Sooooo much better than the Waylander trailers and advertising and yet set in a similar cultural setting ie early medieval/ darkages fantasy celtic inspired setting.
 
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It's easier to make turn based game because of animations, assets and real time encounters that I imagine are harder to balance than turn based one. At least that's what I think. From programming side I don't see really big difference.
 
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Having been playing since the days of Wizardry 1, it's funny to see how things have come full circle there. It used to be that almost everything was turn based. But as technology advanced and there was more of a drive to appeal to main stream audiences, everything became real time, because it was thought that the average gamer wanted something action packed and that turn based was too slow for them. I honestly never thought we'd see a return to turn based being so popular again. Though I'd still say there is a reasonable mix between turn based games and real time games, it's not as lop sided as it was back when real time games were dominating, or back during the golden age of turn based rpgs.
 
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Well, they did an awesome job with the board game… it'll be interesting to see if a compelling video game can come from that or not.

As to the glut of TB games… I thought it would never too much for my taste but I'm tiring of the dynamically generated ones. I'll take hand-crafted over algorithm-crafted every time!

UPDATE: Just an fyi, they're touting this game as a full stand-alone RPG in the same world as the board game - and not simply a port of the board game. Backers of the board game will get Steam keys for the alpha this Friday. Should be interesting.
 
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SSIGuy said:
Well, they did an awesome job with the board game… it'll be interesting to see if a compelling video game can come from that or not.

As to the glut of TB games… I thought it would never too much for my taste but I'm tiring of the dynamically generated ones. I'll take hand-crafted over algorithm-crafted every time!

UPDATE: Just an fyi, they're touting this game as a full stand-alone RPG in the same world as the board game - and not simply a port of the board game. Backers of the board game will get Steam keys for the alpha this Friday. Should be interesting.
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Yeah its not the problem of so many games being turnbased. Its a problem of so many games that are turn based being mediocre. How many really good turn based have you played lately?

It damn well is when 8 out of 10 new RPG's on this site are Turn-based.
Seems to be the latest fad that every indie/small developer is following.
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@Couchpotato;
Would you play them if they were real time? Because most of the ones I see, I don't think I'd buy regardless of the combat system. My backlog is too long, and there are too many very good games that have come out since 2014 that I'd really like to replay at some point too.
 
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Look I made my point many times already I don't enjoy turn-based RPGs. Having said that doesn't mean I wont play a few every year if I'm interested enough in the game.

Still yes if more games were RPG's like GreedFall,Outer Worlds, Tyranny, & PoE were announced I'd be happier. Instead all I see are new turn-based RPG's announced.

At least I have Cyberpunk 2077 and Bloodlines 2 next year.:)
 
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forgottenlor said:
Yeah its not the problem of so many games being turnbased. Its a problem of so many games that are turn based being mediocre. How many really good turn based have you played lately?
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Well, a decent amount I'd say because there's more to choose from these days. But for every good game, I've probably bounced off a couple poor ones - or considered and ruled out several more.

Attention to level design and a great story are just hard to pull-off when levels are being generated dynamically.

I'm playing Fantasy General 2 right now and enjoying it. The story isn't stellar but the campaign maps are all purpose designed and it's fun to move from one to the next. Mutant Year Zero was a great example of a game where the story, characters and maps were clearly all designed together to work as a compelling, overarching experience. I want more of that sort of game where there is a great narrative arc to things - not just a formula I repeat over and over.
 
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forgottenlor said:
Yeah its not the problem of so many games being turnbased. Its a problem of so many games that are turn based being mediocre. How many really good turn based have you played lately?
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The board gaming scene keeps delivering good UgoIgo games. Experience will tell if Tainted Grail lives up to the hype.

The computer scene, it is another story. Tainted Grail the board game has a solo mode (not the case for many other board games) so it might allow a decent port. Even if it is doubtful.
 
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screeg said:
Yes, let's hope it's a fad that will last a thousand years.
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Good for you then. Not for other like myself.:p

I need to find a turn-based RPG hater image for my Avatar.

Update: Wish more would be like Torment: Tides of Numenera. Combat was weak and optional. It didn't force you to fight and if you did it was over very fast.

On the other side games like Divinity:Original Sin took 20-30 minutes each battle.:(

TLDR: Turn based RPG's aren't for me anymore.
 
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Couchpotato said:
Good for you then. Not for other like myself.:p

I need to find a turn-based RPG hater image for my Avatar.

Update: Wish more would be like Torment: Tides of Numenera. Combat was weak and optional. It didn't force you to fight and if you did it was over very fast.

On the other side games like Divinity:Original Sin took 20-30 minutes each battle.:(

TLDR: Turn based RPG's aren't for me anymore.
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I like TB combat but I agree with you about length of fights. I love wiz 8 but the area with the wasps and rapax castle have excruciatingly long fights.

I think TB games should limit parties to 3-4 members and have battles with no more than 6 enemies at a time. You really shouldn’t have large scale battles in TB games.It’s just too long imo. I put up with it if the combat is interesting but too many and the game can really start to drag.

THis is why I usually don’t play TB games alone. I’ll split time with an ARPG if the TB fights start to get dull.
 
I honestly feel like that was more of a problem with the game/level design for Wizardry 8 though, then a problem with turn based combat. Pacing is super important for any game, if combat in your game is long and drawn out then you need to reduce the number of encounters accordingly. And if you want to have endless waves of enemies then you need to make sure combat is relatively quick moving (and real time battles are definitely one of many ways to do this). When a game like Wizardry 8 has endless waves and long drawn out fights then that becomes a problem, especially when the fights get repetitive. The constant respawns didn't help either.
 
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The email providing bord game backers a key to the alpha demo advises to stream the product.

So it is going to be streamed.
 
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I thought wiz 8 was mostly fine 'cept for the excessive regens in certain areas - like the road to ...
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There is a mod to speed up animation of combat which helps - mind you it did get old after a while but the rest of the game made up for the pain.

fadedc said:
I honestly feel like that was more of a problem with the game/level design for Wizardry 8 though, then a problem with turn based combat. Pacing is super important for any game, if combat in your game is long and drawn out then you need to reduce the number of encounters accordingly. And if you want to have endless waves of enemies then you need to make sure combat is relatively quick moving (and real time battles are definitely one of many ways to do this). When a game like Wizardry 8 has endless waves and long drawn out fights then that becomes a problem, especially when the fights get repetitive. The constant respawns didn't help either.
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